


Beginning in the Courtyard

by UnifiedNations



Series: Turn Hogwarts AU [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Turn (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Awkward Hewlett, F/M, First Meetings, Gryffindor Anna, Hogwarts AU, Hufflepuff Hewlett, Making Friends, Simcoe being creepy, Stargazing, it's kinda cute
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-07
Updated: 2017-11-21
Packaged: 2018-11-28 23:12:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11428248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnifiedNations/pseuds/UnifiedNations
Summary: On her way to class, Anna bumps into (or more accurately, gets accosted by) Simcoe, a Slytherin from the year above her. This leads to her meeting Edmund Hewlett, a Hufflepuff with a strange way of making friends with people.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm awful at writing descriptions and titles, please forgive me.  
> This is a prequel to my other Turn/Hogwarts fic 'In the Astronomy Tower' that I actually wrote about a year ago and kept telling myself "I'll write more then post it!" but I think if I post it I'll hopefully get more motivation to write. It's again based off of the prompt,  
> ""A Harry Potter AU in which Edmund Hewlett is this kind of quiet but kind Hufflepuff that spends HOURS in the astronomy tower, and the special telescope is his mother got him is his PRIZED POSSESSION and one night in his 4th year he and 3rd year Gryffindor Anna Strong go up to the astronomy tower together to look through the telescope and Edmunds just rambling on and on about the stars and Anna’s like “look at this smol nerd I love him, oh shit”. And his bitter rival is John Simcoe, a Slytherin that honestly NOBODY likes.""

“Hello there.”

Anna Strong jumped and nearly tripped over the hem of her robe as she tried to move away from the soft voice by her ear. She whirled around and came face to chest with a Slytherin boy- a year older than her, she believed, and not liked by anyone that she knew.

“Hello,” She replied, folding her arms around the books she held to her chest and tucking them into her robe. The frigid air had moved in earlier that week and there were a few snowflakes drifting from the sky.

“I’m sorry to startle you,” The boy spoke quietly and calmly, his eyes never blinking or moving from her face. It made Anna feel very uncomfortable. “But I don’t think I’ve seen you around before.”

Contemplating the boy before her, Anna subtly took a step away but he moved closer almost immediately.

“No, I don’t suppose you would have. Our dormitories are not near each other’s, after all.” She replied calmly, although trying to lean away from him.

“What a shame.” There was an awkward, cold silence for a few seconds before Anna decided to break it.

“Sorry, I must be getting back.” She hurriedly replied before going to move past him.

“My name’s John,” He called after her. “John Graves Simcoe. I hope I’ll be seeing you around more often.”

Anna hoped otherwise.

~*~

“Seriously? He just popped up behind you and started chatting?” Abe said through a mouth of mashed potatoes.

“You’re disgusting. But yeah, right behind my ear. It was creepy, I didn’t see or hear him coming. It was like he apparated.” She shuddered, piling more food onto her plate and smacking Caleb’s hand away from her cup as he landed on the bench beside her. “Get your own.”

“No can do Annie, this is a flying visit.” He grinned before nicking a sausage off of Abe’s plate and downing a cup of pumpkin juice. “Gotta find Ben.”

“Oh yeah, how’s your boyfriend?” Abe grinned over his cup.

“Great.” Caleb winked, grabbing a sandwich from one of the plates before jumping up again. “See ya’ll at Astronomy.” Then he was gone.

Anna shook her head, turning back to her food just as Mary sat down next to Abe, kissing his cheek. 

“Afternoon Mary,” She greeted, before wiping her fingers on a napkin. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to go to the library.” The words were immediately ignored by the couple before her and Anna rolled her eyes, gathering her things before leaving.

~*~  
When Anna had finally climbed to the top of the Astronomy tower the rest of the class were already there and waiting to start, but for once she wasn’t the one holding them up. Professor Sinistra was deep in conversation with a fourth year Hufflepuff- she’d seen him around the tower before but they had never spoken, him being a year above her and her friends.

“… and you see, professor, the alignment of the stars this weekend is particularly important because-“

“Yes I understand, Edmund. Unfortunately, I have to attend a staff meeting, I will speak to you later about arranging for you to be here unattended but for now I have a class,” She motioned to the third years gathered around, who all sat to attention the moment her gaze was turned to them.

The Hufflepuff looked around, as if suddenly realising how many people were gathered around them before turning red and stammering,  
“I-I am so sorry, professor, I did not- I- I’ll go, now. Sorry.” He muttered, grabbing his bag and what was presumably his telescope case before hurrying towards the exit. His eyes met Anna’s as he passed and his cheeks reddened further before he vanished down the stairs. 

“My apologies class, I did not realise that talk would take me so long.” The Professor addressed them, before gesturing to the board and giving them a rundown of the lesson.

When Anna, Caleb and Abe got back to their dormitory it was well past 3AM and Anna merely threw her books by her bed before collapsing face-first on it. She heard a rustling from the bed opposite hers before someone landed beside her and she groaned.

“How was Astronomy?” Peggy asked, laying on her back beside Anna and turning her head to look at her face.

Anna grunted in reply and turned over, burying her head under a pillow before remembering something.

“You’re friends with Andre, the fourth year right?”

Peggy smirked at her.

“Friends isn’t the word I’d use, but close enough. His name’s John, by the way.”

“God, what is it with all the fourth years being called John.” Anna muttered before uncovering her eyes. “D’you know some fourth year called John… Simcoe, I think? Slytherin, about six foot and-“

“Creepier than a Thestral? Yes, he’s in John’s potions class. No-one likes him but he’s the teacher’s favourite.” Peggy made a face before reaching over and tugging on Anna’s hair.  
“When will you let me do something with this?”

“I like Thestrals. And when I have a date.”

“That means never, doesn’t it?”

~*~  
The next morning found Anna crossing the courtyard, arms ladened with books and her robe attempting to slip from her shoulders as she crunched through the snow towards her transfiguration lesson. She had a few minutes to spare and she was hoping that for once she would get there in good time-

“Hello again.” Simcoe had yet again appeared without preamble, right at her elbow.

“Oh- hello.” She replied, trying to quicken her pace. Much to her annoyance he kept up easily, being at least half a foot taller than her.

“Where are you headed? I’d like to accompany you, make sure you get there all right.” He was doing the creepy non-blinking thing again, and it made Anna want to get as far away as possible. 

“That’s quite alright, I don’t have far to go. I really should-“

“No need to rush.” Simcoe halted and grabbed her arm, making her drop half the books she was carrying into the snow. “Surely you can spare a moment for a chat.”

His hand was heavy and cold on her arm, the tight grip not showing signs of letting her go. 

Anna went to grab her books but he beat her to it, gathering them with the hand not holding her wrist. 

“Let go of me.” She let all friendliness out of her voice and tried tugging her arm away, but to no avail.

“No. It’s not polite to turn down someone’s attempts at friendship at the first go.” He replied, voice hard as he stared at her.

“I said let go!” Anna raised her voice and was about to stamp her boot on Simcoe’s foot when another voice rang out.

“I believe she asked you to let her go.” Anna turned her head and was surprised to see the Hufflepuff from the Astronomy tower, standing several feet away and glaring at Simcoe with what could only be described as hatred.

“Hewlett. I believe that it is none of your business.” Simcoe replied, grip not wavering. “I was speaking to the lady kindly and she was rude to me. I am merely-“

“You are harassing a younger student with no provocation than her trying to get to her class. If you don’t desist then I will be forced to make you.” 

Anna glanced down and saw the wand that the Hufflepuff- Hewlett, she renamed him in her mind- gripped firmly in his hand. 

There was a few moments of silence before Simcoe’s hand finally released her and he stepped away.

“Fine. I was only trying to be friendly.” He coolly returned, extending the books to Anna before dropping them in the snow by her feet. “Whoops. Have a nice day.”

With that he turned and left, not sparing a glance to either student behind him. 

Anna watched him go for a short while before turning to pick up the books, then jumping slightly in surprise when she found Hewlett holding them out for her. 

“I, ah, I dried them for you. The pages may be wrinkled by now but- well.” He looked uncomfortable and Anna took the books, flicking through them before tucking them under her arms. She made to reply when the older boy spoke again,

“I am sorry, about him. Simcoe has a habit of appearing when unwanted- which is most of the time, of course. I’ve tried to have words with the teachers about him and his… mannerisms, but they see no fault.” He rushed, eyes darting around nervously before settling on her. “Oh! Oh dear, you’re nearly late for the next lesson time. What do you have?”  
There was a beat of silence before Anna replied.

“Transfiguration. What do you have?”

Hewlett managed a small smile before shrugging. “A free period, luckily. I am trying to set up a viewing for a certain star alignment at the weekend, you are more than welcome to- what am I saying, you need to get to your lesson. I shall see you around!” He gave a sort-of bow wave before setting off at a fast pace in the opposite direction.

Anna was left standing in the courtyard by herself for a minute or so, wondering what exactly just happened.

~*~

“Annie, Annie, Annie. You have so many admirers!” Peggy laughed in delight, swinging her legs over the side of her bed.

“They’re not admirers! They’re- I don’t know what they are, but one’s creepy and the other’s just a bit odd. I probably won’t see them again.” Anna replied, exasperated. Simcoe, she definitely didn’t want to see again. He was unnerving and there was something definitely off about him, but she wasn’t sure what. “And don’t call me Annie. Caleb is an awful influence.”

“Okay, so Simcoe’s definitely off the ‘I would’ list. What about Hewlett?” Peggy glanced over her nails at Anna, narrowing her eyes and ignoring the comment on her name.

“What about him? I’ve talked to him once and he practically ran away from me, after ‘valiantly defending’ me and drying my books.” She replied dryly, flicking through her transfiguration book.

“John knows him. My John, not creepy John. He’s kind of a huge nerd. Doesn’t get out much and doesn’t have many friends, but the teachers love him and he spends most of his time in the astronomy tower.” She grinned and rested her chin on her hand. “I talked to him once, he was a bit hard to get talking but wow, once he saw my star chart we couldn’t get him to shut up.” 

“Can we just drop this? I’m not looking to date anyone so please stop trying to set me up.”

“Okay, okay, fine. Anyway, about John,”

Anna tuned out of the conversation when Peggy started talking about her sort of boyfriend, concentrating instead on her book before her mind drifted and she ended up falling asleep early, the events of the afternoon fresh in her mind.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anna and Edmund actually interact properly!

“Annie. Annie. Annie. Anni-“

“What?!” Anna snapped, jerking her arm away from where Caleb had been poking it with his wand. They’d been sat in the library for several hours and Anna was five seconds away from putting a silencing spell on her friend.

“How d’you do that jinx which turns things into ducks?”

Anna very, very slowly turned to him and seriously considered using that particular jinx in a moment.

“Caleb.”

“Yeah?” Why was he so clueless sometimes?

“I am here to study. If you are not, please go and bug someone else before I use the Melofors jinx on you.”

“Which one’s that?” Caleb asked, edging away slowly.

“Do you really want to find out?” Anna replied, raising her wand threateningly as Caleb jumped from his seat and crammed his (unused) study items into his bag.

“Okay, nice study session, see you later!” He exclaimed cheerfully, clapping her on the shoulder before running out of the library. She breathed a sigh of relief- God knows she loved her friends but sometimes they weren’t helpful at all.

“He seemed… nice.” Came a voice from a few feet away and she jumped, turning around and half expecting the creepy Slytherin to be behind her again. To her surprise it was the Hufflepuff- Edward? Edmund?- who came to her defence in the courtyard, clutching what were likely the library’s books this time and looking a bit nervous. That hadn’t changed, then.

“Caleb? Yeah, he’s nice. Really annoying when you want to focus though.” She replied, deciding to not immediately tell him to sod off. He seemed nice enough, although she’d learned from experience to not always trust first impressions.

“Yes, I get that impression.” He seemed to be awkwardly hovering, not sure what to say next. Anna decided to help him along.

“Can I help you with something?” That seemed to snap the boy out of his nervous moment and he stood ramrod straight. 

“Oh. Um, yes. Sort of.” There was silence for a moment before he pointed at the empty space opposite and a seat over from her. “Would you mind if I sit here? Most of the other tables are rather full and this seems to be the only quiet area of the library.”

Anna stared at him in silence for a moment before nodding. Hufflepuffs weren’t exactly known for being scheming or anything negative really- although maybe a bit too smothering sometimes.

“Sure. Please don’t distract me though, I’m trying to do this stupid transfiguration work that’s due tomorrow.” To her surprise, Edmund brightened and sat opposite her, leaning over a little.

“Perhaps I could help you? I’m far better at transfiguration than I am at potions.” He gestured to his own homework before seeming to realise something. “Oh- I just realised, I never properly introduced myself. My name’s Edmund Hewlett.” He stuck his hand out to her over the table and she eyed it before returning the handshake.

“Anna Strong.” An emotion passed over his face that she couldn’t quite identify. 

“Any relation to Selah?” 

Anna resisted the urge to bang her head on the table. Selah was a Slytherin a year above her and every single time she mentioned her name, he was brought up.

“No, just a coincidence. Not all of us can have posh English names.” She snapped, then felt a little bad. To her relief Edmund simply laughed quietly, waving the comment off.

“True. Although I feel that yours may be a reflection of your character, if you don’t mind me saying.” His nervous demeanour had seemingly began evaporating and he smiled at her from across the table. 

Anna had no idea what to say for a second.

“You’ve literally talked to me twice, how have you come to that conclusion?” She’d get to studying in a minute.

Edmund shrugged, looking down at his work. 

“Whilst my social skills might be lacking in some areas, I like to think that I can sometimes be quite a good judge of character.” His face took on a slightly darker expression and she felt the sudden urge to lean away from him. “Although I learned the hard way that I am not always right.”

There was an awkward pause for a few seconds before he cleared his throat and sat a little straighter.

“Anyway. Would you like any help with your work? It would certainly be a welcome and excusable distraction from my own.” He gave a nervous smile and she felt her resolve crumble.

“Sure, I guess. Might get my professor off my back.” She shrugged, shifting her chair to the side so Edmund could come around the table and sit next to her.

They spent the next few hours there, trading points on each other’s homework. Edmund was ahead of her by a year but she managed to help him in a few ways- he was rather hopeless at potions, as it turned out. As the sun sank and the candles in the library flickered alight by themselves, they found themselves straying onto other topics than homework.

“So what were you doing in the Astronomy Tower the other day?” At Edmund’s confused look, she continued. “I arrived late to my lesson and you were talking to the professor about star alignments?”

The boy’s face suddenly turned rather red and Anna was suddenly worried that he was angry at her. Instead, he ducked his head and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Ah. I did not realise you were there. I sometimes go into the Astronomy Tower at night to observe the stars, there is a particular alignment that I predicted for this weekend and I was trying to get the Professor’s permission to use it for an observation. I’m afraid I can get carried away when talking about topics I like and I didn’t notice that she did have a class.” His cheeks were still bright red and he was looking away in embarrassment.

It was weirdly endearing.

“Huh. What’s so interesting about this weekend then?” Anna asked, finding herself a little surprised to be enjoying the conversation with the strange Hufflepuff boy.  
Edmund’s face immediately brightened and he sat up straighter, flicking a hand at his book bag and summoning a star chart which rolled itself out on the table. Anna stared at it, surprised that a fourth year was doing wandless magic so effortlessly. 

“Well you see I’ve discovered this rather fascinating trend recently, it started a few months ago when-“ He froze so suddenly Anna thought that someone had put a body bind spell on him. “I- I apologise, I’m doing that thing again.” His shoulders slumped and he went to roll up the scroll.

“No, it’s okay. I’m interested.” She replied, putting out a hand to stop the paper from curling in. Their fingers brushed and they both froze, a hopeful look dawning on Edmund’s face.

“Really? Most people I talk to about this find me… well, irritating or overexcitable. I’ve been told that I can be a bit much.”

Anna shrugged, retracting her hand. 

“You’ve seen my friends, right?” It was apparently all the reassurance he needed and he grinned brightly before rolling out the chart again.

~*~*~*~

“Where have you been?” Anna jumped as a voice came from behind her as she quietly made her way to her bed. It was past midnight and most students were either asleep or quietly chatting.

“The library. I decided to study instead of lay around all day.” She replied, quickly changing into her nightclothes before climbing into bed. Not for the first time she felt the bed dip beside her and she groaned as Peggy shook her shoulder.

“I know you, Anna Strong. You don’t study for any longer than you have to and I’ve never known you to stay in the library for more than a few hours. Tell me what you were doing!” 

Anna groaned louder and pulled a pillow over her head, hoping that it would convince her supposed friend to go away.

“Fine. But I’ll find out one way or another- I know people.” Peggy said almost threateningly, gently pulling a strand of her hair before getting off of the bed. “Oh- I also know that you weren’t with Caleb because I saw him and Ben sneaking off somewhere.”

Anna would swear on her life that Peggy had been a spy in another lifetime.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Melofors jinx- Jinx which encases the victim’s head in a pumpkin.
> 
> I had so much fun researching jinxes.
> 
> I was considering making Richard a student but as he’s Abe’s and Thomas’s dad I decided to keep his age although this gives me limited characters for Edmund to be friends with. Accurate though, am I right? Haha I’m sorry.
> 
> I also see Anna as having a little Slytherin in her but being in denial of it as she associates it with assholes. Also I’m not trying to do the ‘all Slytherins are evil’ thing because that bugs me, but Simcoe is /definitely/ a Slytherin. There will be more characters introduced later!
> 
> Headcanon that Edmund is really clumsy and taught himself wandless magic because he was always knocking things over and not reaching his wand in time to right them with magic.
> 
> Also I was on a train going into London today and I passed a building called Hewlett House near Battersea??? I tried to take a photo but it was a fast train :(


	3. Authors note

Hello to all you wonderful people reading this! I unfortunately come with just an apology and no new chapter this time.

The reason for this is that my laptop's hard drive has completely given up the ghost and won't even turn on past the initial turning on screen. Luckily someone I know is an IT tech but I won't be seeing them for a good few weeks so I have no access to my laptop, my files and the good chapter or so I had written for this series before it died.

I am /majorly gutted/ as I have some free time and was going to hurriedly put a few chapters up but the best I can do is try to rewrite what I've done via phone which unfortunately takes some time (but at least I have WiFi now! I was without it for a month after moving house) so soon!!!! There will be more.

Again I'm sorry for the delay and no actual chapter with this update, as soon as my laptop is revived (hopefully) and my files recovered (unlikely but you never know?) I'll be back to it properly.  
(Plus I can finally catch up on Turn once I figure out how to get Amazon Prime on my TV! So excited.)

Have a great day!

**Author's Note:**

> Ta-da! I am trying to get more of this done but I have a 10 week job ahead of me with 14 hour days so it may be slow going.
> 
> Please note that I haven't read Harry Potter books for quite a while (I'm the worst British person ever) so if anyone spots anything wrong then please let me know!
> 
> I also kind of haven’t kept up with Turn since the episode (spoiler alert for ages back) where Anna agreed to marry Edmund because I’m too scared. I literally cried. I will at some point because I still love this show but it’s hard to watch something when you don’t have the right channels or a reputable website to watch it on ://
> 
> I’m not sure what Anna’s maiden name is so I’m going with Strong for now, if anyone could let me know that’d be great!
> 
> I also did the Sorting Hat test and tried answering as each character and this is what happened. If anyone has strong feelings on who should be in what house then again let me know, as this is my interpretation!
> 
> Gryffindor- Anna, Caleb, Abe and Peggy  
> Hufflepuff- Edmund and Mary  
> Ravenclaw- Ben and John Andre  
> Slytherin- Simcoe
> 
> I tried to make everyone sound like themselves but without the 18th century mannerisms and such, I hope I at least nearly succeeded?  
> Please let me know what you think, and if anyone has any ideas for things to happen next or suggestions etc then just comment!


End file.
